Fecteau: Trump’s a Nuclear Nihilist

During his campaign for president, I’ve called Mr. Donald Trump a madman, a lunatic, and a megalomaniac; he has not let me down so far, and now, sincerely believe he is a nuclear nihilist. In the microcosm of sheer, untainted lunacy that is Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed, he has seemingly outdone himself this time with his latest terrifying social media rant. Mr. Trump recently said via Tweeter, “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” Yikes!

Quite the contrary Mr. President-elect. It seems like the world has come to its senses considering most countries are participants in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; this treaty seeks to reduce propagation, and development of weaponized nuclear technology; it has done so successfully for decades with few exceptions.

Few countries have weaponized nuclear capability. The nuclear club is restricted to only nine nations: United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. North Korea is currently being sanctioned for its nuclear malfeasance in violation of international law.

From this list, United States and Russia have over 90% of the nuclear weapons, and Russia’s technology is antiquated – right now. The United States and its new-found frenemy Russia have approximately 7,000 nuclear weapons a piece. Both countries have the ability to abolish the Earth several times over.

Trump’s tirade comes on the same-day Russian President Vladimir Putin, much more graciously I should add, announced he would expand Russia’s own nuclear arsenal. Does Trump have a suicide pact with Putin? If so, can he leave the rest of us out of it? While it should go without saying, the more nuclear weapons in circulation, the higher the probability those nukes could end up in the wrong hands.

Mr. Trump’s simple, yet controversial nuke Tweet could trigger an arms race. However, from these latest news reports, this is something Trump doesn’t seem too concerned about. Trump, mind you, is the same individual who was nonchalant about countries like Saudi Arabia acquiring nuclear weapons. Yes, Saudi Arabia; nothing bad ever came from that country (sarcasm) besides a group of pissed-off terrorists who attacked us on 9/11.

Nuclear weapons are serious business, but tell that to Mr. ‘nuke happy’ Trump. America needs to take a stern look at its nuclear weapon's capability before flirting with expanding an arsenal that already exponentially exceeds that of the rest of the world combined. If not, wear a lot of sun-block because the chances of a nuclear holocaust devouring the world will greatly increase.

Matt Fecteau ([email protected]) is a former White House national security intern and Iraq war veteran.